Method of producing metal shelf support channels



March 4, 1941. A. VANDERVELD METHOD OF PRODUCING METAL SHELF SUPPORT CHANNELS Filed Aug. 2, 1939 Patented Mar. 4, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFECE METHOD OF PRODUCING METAL SHELF SUPPORT CHANNELS Michigan Application August 2, 1939, Serial No. 287,919

2 Claims. (Cl. 29-155) This invention relates to a method of producing a very novel and practical back post made from thin sheet metal, which post in use is adapted to be inserted in alongitudinal vertical groove in the end of a shelving unit, cabinet or similar support and upon which a variety of immediate supporting devices may be adjustably mounted at selected positions in, the length thereof. The construction of the vertical elongated backing post is shown and is claimed in the pending application of Welch, Ser. No. 276,655, filed May 31, 1939, now Patent'No. 2,208,234 datedJuly 16, 1940. The present invention is directed to a practical and efiicient method of producing the vertical back post from sheet metal, with a plurality of consecutively spaced tongues extending inwardly toward and overlapping each other in accordance with the construction disclosed in the prior application above identified.

The invention is fully described in the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which,

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a flat elongated strip of metal from which a back post is made.

Fig. 2 illustrates one way of performing the first step of the method, which consists in turning short flanges at each side edge of the metal strip.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the flangedstrip after the first step of manufacture has been done.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section of the die used in the succeeding method step for punching rows of spaced tongues from the body of the flanged strip of metal.

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section taken at right angles to Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of the flanged plate after two series of tongues are struck therefrom in reverse order to each other, the plate having been turned over to the position which it will occupy in the next succeeding method step.

Fig. '7 is an end elevation showing also in fragmentary elevation the dies which are used to bend the elongated metal member shown in Fig. 6 longitudinally midway of its sides into substantially V-shape, with the tongues struck thereinto substantial bearing contact relation with each other.

Fig. 9 is an end elevation of the completed back post.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary vertical section show- 5 ing such back post mounted upon the end of a shelving structure, cabinet or the like, and with a shelf supporting element detachably connected therewith.

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary vertical section on a 10 plane at right angles to Fig. 10, midway between the opposed sides of the back post, and

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of one form of supporting element which may be detachably connected with the back post. 15

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures of the drawing.

In the method of producing the novel back post, there is first provided an elongated flat strip of relatively thin metal, indicated at I, of the length of the back post which is to be produced. Of course, for shorter back posts the method steps which are to be described can be performed on a relatively long strip of metal and the finished back posts cut to proper lengths. The first operation to be performed is to turn short flanges, as indicated at 2, in the same direction from the opposite side edges of the body of the plate I. In Fig. 2 this is shown as being performed by a fixed die 3 which will have a suitably formed elongated recess therein over which the length of metal I may be placed, and a punch 4 which may be brought down to press the flat metal into the recess of the die to thus form the flanges 2 one at each side edge thereof. It is, of course, to be understood that such flanging of the metal may also be performed in other ways, for example, as by rolling or other equivalent methods.

In the succeeding step, the web or body I of the fiat metal between the flanges 2 is operated upon to produce two series of spaced apart tongues 5 and 6, one series lying a short distance within but relatively adjacent to one of the flanges 2 and the other similarly positioned with respect to the other flange. The tongues 5 and 8 when struck from the web of the metal channel lie at acute angles to the plane of the web, but are reversely positioned with respect to each other as shown in Fig. 6. The channel-shaped member illustrated in Fig. 3 is placed in the recess of a die I and a punch 8 with tongue severing auxiliary punches 9 at its lower end is forced downwardly against the metal so as to sever it at both sides and one end leaving the tongues integral with the web I at their other ends. The auxiliary punches produced with the tongues 5 and B struck there-; from is turned over, as in Fig. 6, and is then' placed between dies so as to form the metal channel into a substantially V-shape in cross section as shown in Fig. 7, the metal .being bent along a central longitudinal line to provide op-,

posite sides I0 located at an acute angle to each other integrally connected by the bend at H. The die l2 has a suitably shaped recess to receive the form of the V-shaped structure made, while the punch I3 is narrow in width and when moved in a downward direction against the flat upper side of the web I of the channel it bends it into the V-form shown in Fig. '7, bringing the tongues 5 and 6 toward each other and with the flanges 2 at the free ends of the sides Ill turned outwardly away from each other. The punch I3 is as narrow as it may be and yet be capable of withstanding the service which it has to undergo.

In the final step the two sides Hi of the v-: shaped structure are brought in parallelism to each other as in Fig. 9. The length of metal having been shaped to the V-form in cross section shown in Fig. 7, is placed upon a supporting die l4 and a punch I5 is brought downwardly against r the upper side Ill thereby forcing the two sides H3 into parallel relation their inner ends being integrally connected by the U-bend at H. When this is done the tongues 6 which are on one leg 10 of the U are brought to the tongues 5 on'the other leg ill, their adjacent inclined sides bearing against each other so that the space between the legs ID of the b ack post is bridged across by a consecutive series of pairs of tongues spaced from each other, each pair consisting of a tongue 5 and a tongue 6.

In Figs. 10 to 12, inclusive, the use which may be made of the back post is shown. The vertical end l6 ofv a supporting carcass which may be of a cabinet or the like, is vertically grooved and the metal back post produced in accordance with the method described is inserted fully in said groove. The outer sides of the legs I!) frictionally engage the sides of the groove and the bend at H reaches substantially to the bottom of the groove, while the flanges l2 may be seated in shallow recesses therefor, so that their outer surfaces are flush with the inner side of the part Hi. ,Such metal back post is capable of having attached thereto between any two pairs of consecutive tongues 5, 6 supporting brackets, one form only of which is shown in Fig. 12, In this form of bracket shown, a section of flat metal is bent to provide a vertical section I! from which. at its upper end, a horizontal ledge I8 is turned at right angles. and extending from its lower edge upwardly to a point short of the upper end of the section ll, a section I!) is turned rearwardly at right angles to the plane of the section II, which at its free upper corner is continued upwardly in a finger 20.

Such section l9 and the finger 20 has a thickness slightly less than the distance between the inner From one of its vertical sides sides of the legs ill of the back post and may be inserted between one pair of tongues 5, 6 and the next pair immediately above. The lower edge of the section 19 will rest upon the upper end of the tongue 6 of the pair of tongues 5, 6 below, while such finger comes back of the inner edges of both tongues 5 and 6 of the next adjacent upper pair of tongues as illustrated in Fig. 11. The weight resting upon atongue 6, should it have any tendency to bend the tongue away from its position, will be resisted by the support and reinforcement of the tongue 5 which bears against the side of the tongue 6 which sustains the weight, holding it against displacement.

The method of producing the back post is practical and useful and is what is used continuously in commercial production. As previously stated the dies are. of the proper length for a length of back post which is to be produced and it is evident that the punches 8 which carry the auxiliary punches 9 at their lower ends are of length equal to the length of the strip of metal l which is being converted'into a back post; and that a large number of the auxiliary punches 9 are required to sever the large number of tongues 5 and 6. These in practice are equally spaced from each other and at a relatively'short distance from each other compared to the length of the back strip which carries them.

Having thus fully described my invention what- I desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent is:

I claim:

1. The herein described method of producing a back post which consists, in providing an elongated plate of flat metal, bending flanges, one at each longitudinal edge thereof and extending in the same direction from the plate, striking two parallel series of spaced apart tongues from the metal longitudinally thereof and substantially symmetrical to the center line of the plate,

said tongues in each of' the rows lying at an I acute angle to the plate and reversely positioned with respect to eachother, bending said plate along its center line into a substantially V-shape longitudinally thereof whereby said tongues of one series are brought toward those of the other series and the flanges at the outer edges of the plate extend outwardly away from each other, and bending the V-form into substantially U-form with one row of tongues brought against proach those of the other series, and then bending the plate farther to bring the sides of the V-formation into substantial parallelism and. with the tongues of one series of tongues on one sidethereof bearing against the corresponding tongues of those of the other series on the other side, the bearing faces of said tongues being inclined to the planes of two sides of the post,

as specified. Y

- ANTHONY VANDERVELD. 

